Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: colecampbell666 on July 18, 2007, 07:42:56 pm
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If FreeSpace is to be revived, then the revival will probably not lie in a PC game. With the runaway success of Battlestar Galactica, an imminent Star Trek movie which promises to suck less than anything Star Trek has done in years, and the recent conclusion of Star Wars, the time is ripe for FreeSpace to be developed into other media. Could you imagine a TV series following the exploits of Admiral Wolf, the GTD Galatea, and some other Alpha 1 fighting the Vasudans in the year 2327 or so?
Also, the idea of multimillion-poly Apollos and Orions being processed by render farms makes me salivate.
In my opinon, previous video-game movies and such failed because it's too much video game and not enough movie. And besides, FreeSpace is much less vulnerable to this, being more about the GTA, PVE, GTVA, NTF, and Shivans than Alpha 1 himself. It's easy to make a whole squadron of characters rather than a single Alpha 1, and there's a broad overarching plot into which smaller stories could be injected, Babylon 5 style. Doom isn't so flexible.
This is an idea that i've thought about alot. FS is alot like BSG and would make a superb show. It could have the same premise - Galatea would be the focal point and the show would center around the brave pilots of the GTA. How would we go about getting it (slim possibility) done? Take it to idea pitches? Send it to studios? Suggestions please/opinions? :confused:
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would be cool but I think if they make a show it will be a spin-off of the movie :yes:.
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i'd watch it. to bad it aint gonna happen
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I can see it now, the main protagonist is gonna be "Alpha 1" and he will never say a word. Hell, you won't even get to see him or her or it?!
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The only place to pitch something like this would be to Scifi channel. But they would want a script and maybe even a demo of concept. Showing it at a comic convention and getting support would be the best bet. That is how BSG came back was due to the interest shown by the fans.
Chesticus
Watch the skies
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The only place to pitch something like this would be to Scifi channel. But they would want a script and maybe even a demo of concept. Showing it at a comic convention and getting support would be the best bet. That is how BSG came back was due to the interest shown by the fans.
Chesticus
Watch the skies
Comic-con preview would mean we need to get some one intrested in it first ... and maybe, just maybe, if a successful FS2 film is released, THQ might be convinced to buy the rights to FS.
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The only place to pitch something like this would be to Scifi channel. But they would want a script and maybe even a demo of concept. Showing it at a comic convention and getting support would be the best bet. That is how BSG came back was due to the interest shown by the fans.
Chesticus
Watch the skies
IIRC there is a new sort of "fan made" scifi channel that is taking input from fans on what shows they would like to see.
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Yes, and thye should get Summer Glau to play the ship drunkard.
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And MM OJ can make a cameo in the background during the briefing when Robert Loggia, acting as (of course) Admiral Petrach, briefs the pilots.
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That would ****ing own. :P
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Then, when they show a bar scene or something, you can see Petrach drinking MM OJ, then a poster in the background with 'Bosch Beer is bad for you' behind him.
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:lol: I want this movie. :nervous: ;)
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So do I. As well as every one in HLP :p
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And MM OJ can make a cameo in the background during the briefing when Robert Loggia, acting as (of course) Admiral Petrach, briefs the pilots.
That would be possible during a cutscene, if this show never happens.
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Isn't there a script for an HLP movie floating around?
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Yeah, but it's not so much FS, more about HLP. A tiny bit like the "void of spam" thread. Also, it's all about the old fogeys rather than current events. Includes guys like Carl and even Fantomeye.
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I knew that it wasn't about FS, I was just bringing it up.
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The only place to pitch something like this would be to Scifi channel. But they would want a script and maybe even a demo of concept. Showing it at a comic convention and getting support would be the best bet. That is how BSG came back was due to the interest shown by the fans.
Chesticus
Watch the skies
There were a fair few million BSG fans, there're only a few thousand of us, tops. This isn't going to happen.
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Which brings us to My other topic (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,48351.0.html)
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Should people be willing to ever make a FS movie, there's this story idea I have floating in my head I'd like to write one of these days...
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There were a fair few million BSG fans, there're only a few thousand of us, tops. This isn't going to happen.
There weren't allways a million BSG fans.. If hordes of crappy stories, novel and games can be turned into movies, then Fs2 can too.
I mena, look at Harry Potter, Eragon, Dungeons and Dragons, Tomb Raider, Street Figter.... :ick: :ick: :ick: :ick: :ick:
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dont dis eragon. that was a great book. have you even read it?
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Don't forget Star Trek.(I am so dead).StarWars?
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There were a fair few million BSG fans, there're only a few thousand of us, tops. This isn't going to happen.
There weren't allways a million BSG fans.. If hordes of crappy stories, novel and games can be turned into movies, then Fs2 can too.
I mena, look at Harry Potter, Eragon, Dungeons and Dragons, Tomb Raider, Street Figter.... :ick: :ick: :ick: :ick: :ick:
Doom :lol:
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doom went the other way, good game-->mediocre movie
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Don't forget Star Trek.(I am so dead).StarWars?
star trek sucked, excpet next gen.
star wars ep.4 was lame but the other 2 movies were good.
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Star Trek rocked, except next gen :p Picard's a wuss, long live TOS. Although I didn't like Enterprise, I did like Deep Space 9 and some parts of Voyager. TOS, DS9, and some bits of VOY were actually, well, human, as opposed to the straight-laced-ultra-moral-can-do-no-wrong crap of the TNG era. Everyone on the Enterprise wears their heart on their sleeve and always makes THE most perfect moral decision EVERY SINGLE TIME anything happens that might jeopardize the black and white world of TNG.
As for the chances of FS becoming a movie or show...not gonna happen. These threads always pop up and people always go "omg there's such a huge market why not!?!?111oneoneoneleven"...except there's maybe 2,000 active FS2 fans left, and maybe 3,000 who play the game. Maybe 10,000 who've actually heard of it. When movies are expected to make millions on a theatrical release, what's the tightly clutched pennies and dollars of a few thousand die hard fans going to do to offset the multi-million cost of making the movie? The fact is that we all think it'd be great because we're fans of the games and we're familiar with the universe - to someone outside the community/fandom, well, they couldn't give a ****.
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As for the chances of FS becoming a movie or show...not gonna happen. These threads always pop up and people always go "omg there's such a huge market why not!?!?111oneoneoneleven"...except there's maybe 2,000 active FS2 fans left, and maybe 3,000 who play the game. Maybe 10,000 who've actually heard of it. When movies are expected to make millions on a theatrical release, what's the tightly clutched pennies and dollars of a few thousand die hard fans going to do to offset the multi-million cost of making the movie? The fact is that we all think it'd be great because we're fans of the games and we're familiar with the universe - to someone outside the community/fandom, well, they couldn't give a ****.
With that philosophy, I wonder how new things and ideas come about. No one knew about them.
EDIT: Oh wait, I forgot; people don't like new things anymore. We're just mooching off of old things now.
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Except making a Freespace movie would be mooching off old ideas. See? That's the thinking. You're playing it and constantly seeing new things come out for it, so you feel that it's a new and great idea, but to the world at large, it's a 7 year old game from a genre that no one plays anymore.
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Except making a Freespace movie would be mooching off old ideas. See? That's the thinking. You're playing it and constantly seeing new things come out for it, so you feel that it's a new and great idea, but to the world at large, it's a 7 year old game from a genre that no one plays anymore.
does anyone else take offence to that? joking. relax. i agree though, it would be nice, but it aint gonna happen.
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Except making a Freespace movie would be mooching off old ideas. See? That's the thinking. You're playing it and constantly seeing new things come out for it, so you feel that it's a new and great idea, but to the world at large, it's a 7 year old game from a genre that no one plays anymore.
According to you no one knows about Freespace, so when they hear about a show, they'll think "new idea" instead of "old game". You see, you pretty much said it yourself. There isn't enough people who know what freespace is; it would be as good as a new show.
And besides, it wouldn't have to advertise its link to the game. Anyone who doesn't know what Freespace is probably wouldn't care, and anyone who does know what Freespace is would know. But there's only about 10,000 people left throughout the entire world.
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Star Trek rocked, except next gen :p Picard's a wuss, long live TOS. Although I didn't like Enterprise, I did like Deep Space 9 and some parts of Voyager. TOS, DS9, and some bits of VOY were actually, well, human, as opposed to the straight-laced-ultra-moral-can-do-no-wrong crap of the TNG era. Everyone on the Enterprise wears their heart on their sleeve and always makes THE most perfect moral decision EVERY SINGLE TIME anything happens that might jeopardize the black and white world of TNG.
As for the chances of FS becoming a movie or show...not gonna happen. These threads always pop up and people always go "omg there's such a huge market why not!?!?111oneoneoneleven"...except there's maybe 2,000 active FS2 fans left, and maybe 3,000 who play the game. Maybe 10,000 who've actually heard of it. When movies are expected to make millions on a theatrical release, what's the tightly clutched pennies and dollars of a few thousand die hard fans going to do to offset the multi-million cost of making the movie? The fact is that we all think it'd be great because we're fans of the games and we're familiar with the universe - to someone outside the community/fandom, well, they couldn't give a ****.
What about "original" movies? You know, the ones that aren't based on any franchise? How the hell do they manage to get any auidience?
I tell you how - someone makes a good scrip, some studio likes it and decides to make the movie and the media machine hypes it up and CREATES the demand and a fanbasse for future sequels. Like Matrix...who the hell evern heard of it before?
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Except making a Freespace movie would be mooching off old ideas. See? That's the thinking. You're playing it and constantly seeing new things come out for it, so you feel that it's a new and great idea, but to the world at large, it's a 7 year old game from a genre that no one plays anymore.
The idea is to promote FreeSpace as not just a game, but a universe that could be picked up and developed into other media. Instead of pitching is as a revival of something old, just pitch it like any new series, as most people have never seen it before.
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According to you no one knows about Freespace, so when they hear about a show, they'll think "new idea" instead of "old game". You see, you pretty much said it yourself. There isn't enough people who know what freespace is; it would be as good as a new show.
And besides, it wouldn't have to advertise its link to the game. Anyone who doesn't know what Freespace is probably wouldn't care, and anyone who does know what Freespace is would know. But there's only about 10,000 people left throughout the entire world.
So you're saying that they'd make a movie based on a game without advertising that it was based on the game? I doubt that...on top of that, what studio would want to sink millions of dollars into a movie about a game franchise that probably moved less than a million units? It makes no business sense.
What about "original" movies? You know, the ones that aren't based on any franchise? How the hell do they manage to get any auidience?
I tell you how - someone makes a good scrip, some studio likes it and decides to make the movie and the media machine hypes it up and CREATES the demand and a fanbasse for future sequels. Like Matrix...who the hell evern heard of it before?
Do you honestly think that a movie based on a video game with no main character would be good? Um, hello, even Wing Commander couldn't do it right, and they had the most mega sci fi shooter franchise ever, complete with Mark Hammel (or however you spell his name).
The idea is to promote FreeSpace as not just a game, but a universe that could be picked up and developed into other media. Instead of pitching is as a revival of something old, just pitch it like any new series, as most people have never seen it before.
Again, who would want to invest millions of dollars into a universe that probably made less than that when it was released?
Here's a question to illustrate my point. I played this great game a long time ago called Bughunters or something. Basically the game was about these marines with awesome looking jetpacks that jetted around and there was some inter-stellar war going on, bla bla bla. It was really a fun, kickass game. But it probably sold only a few thousand copies. Would you be willing to invest your money into a movie based on that game? If you answer no, then why? Let's say it got great reviews and was loved by a tiny die-hard community. These people absolutely love the game and rightly so - but it still only sold about 100,000 copies. Would you want to invest $20 million in it?
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I'm getting the impression that you think all the TV show would be about is alpha 1 going around and killing stuff, like a recording of someone playing through the SP game. Naturally you'd need to tweak things from the game to make it into a marketable show.
And the point that I was trying to make in my other posts is that a Freespace television show would have no more difficulties getting started than any other original show, not how business smart it is.
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That's not what I'm thinking it is, and...
And the point that I was trying to make in my other posts is that a Freespace television show would have no more difficulties getting started than any other original show, not how business smart it is.
...it would have more difficulties because, according to the price/profit ratio of the FS universe, nobody likes the universe enough to warrant a TV show about it. See, you've been playing the game and been in the community, so you know that it's good and you know what it's all about. A bean counter over at the Sci Fi channel is going to go "Hm, this guy wants to create a TV series about a game that I've never heard of. Let me look it up...oh, would you look at that. They spent $5 million making the two games and brought in less than $1 million."
What would be the justification for him to authorize spending $20 million to make a game based on that? You don't seem to have the ability to look at this from a network executive's point of view, which is what I'm doing. You're a fan, so you think that whatever it is you like other people will also like, whereas a cable company looks at the numbers, and, as good as reviews that the FS series got, the sales numbers don't lie - it was a flop when it was released as a game, so it'd probably (to their eyes) be a flop when it was released as a TV show. Now, I'm not saying that I don't think it'd make awesome TV - because it would - but there's no way it'd ever happen.
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according to the price/profit ratio of the FS universe, nobody likes the universe enough to warrant a TV show about it.
Wasn't that just because interplay didn't advertise correctly?
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Do they know that? No. But you do. That's part of the bit where you're part of the community, and you've played the game, so you know that, but outside people, like those who would authorize such a show, wouldn't. Basically; you = my point.
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Oh well. I'm too lazy to try and respond to that, so you win. :(:yes:
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Do you honestly think that a movie based on a video game with no main character would be good? Um, hello, even Wing Commander couldn't do it right, and they had the most mega sci fi shooter franchise ever, complete with Mark Hammel (or however you spell his name).
If there is no main character, make one. No character development? Write it in. No relationships? Add them. Why work only with the narrow slice of the universe the two games provide? My first recommendation for a series idea was set several years before FS1 even started.
Also, the Wing Commander movie didn't have Mark Hamill. It also had a horrible plot, ridiculous contrivances to imitate submarine warfare (hey, let's talk quietly so the guys in the other ship can't pick us up on sonar even though we're in ****ing SPACE), ghastly-looking Kilrathi on ships lined with green smoke machines, and raped Wing Commander canon.
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I'm saying that Freespace doesn't have a main character or character interaction, so that gives the studio even less of a reason to write a movie about it. If they do write it in, then they'll have to change the story quite a bit, and if they do that, then they'll consider it carte' blanche' to write whatever the hell they want, so we'll probably end up with something as related to Freespace as the Wing Commander movie was to the game series.
What it would take to make a successful, well-written version would be someone (probably from the community) who understands the ins and outs of the storyline, but also understands how to write a good script and pitch it to network executives.
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That was kind of my idea--create an outline, a new FreeSpace Reference Bible--of what FreeSpace is and should be, and the basics of the series and universe. It must be entirely self-contained, so the studios could be told the series is based on this document, not some game that nobody bought. Keep harping with all your might on the fact that the FreeSpace games were never really marketed, so all this is really still new. Make the document comprehensive enough so that the writers can stick to it, not the games.
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So you're saying that they'd make a movie based on a game without advertising that it was based on the game? I doubt that...on top of that, what studio would want to sink millions of dollars into a movie about a game franchise that probably moved less than a million units? It makes no business sense.
That doesn't matter.. all it matters is if the story is good enough to sell.
Take a look at all the sci-fi series and moves out there - how many of htem are actually based on a franchise? You dont NEED that to make a movie...
Do you honestly think that a movie based on a video game with no main character would be good? Um, hello, even Wing Commander couldn't do it right, and they had the most mega sci fi shooter franchise ever, complete with Mark Hammel (or however you spell his name).
AHEM......GOOD SCRIPT
Here's a question to illustrate my point. I played this great game a long time ago called Bughunters or something. Basically the game was about these marines with awesome looking jetpacks that jetted around and there was some inter-stellar war going on, bla bla bla. It was really a fun, kickass game. But it probably sold only a few thousand copies. Would you be willing to invest your money into a movie based on that game? If you answer no, then why? Let's say it got great reviews and was loved by a tiny die-hard community. These people absolutely love the game and rightly so - but it still only sold about 100,000 copies. Would you want to invest $20 million in it?
I'd have to research the background of that universe...if I like it and if somone gives me a good script, sure...
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Now I kind of don't want this to happen.
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Don't worry. If space shooters ever make a comeback, it will be something mainstream like Wing Commander, BSG, or B5.
FreeSpace is great because it's so easily moddable. We still love it because of all the great campaigns and ships, but retail itself was, honestly, pretty average. Even Starlancer almost comes close. (Tachyon is a different story, but it had the best multiplayer of any space game I've seen.) The main things FS had going for it are the music and Shivans. Just doesn't match with TV network tastes.
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I think the gaming press who gave FreeSpace glowing reviews would disagree with you. FreeSpace didn't sell well because Interplay didn't bother to sell it. Furthermore, what would cable TV (forget networks, the only show that ever got on networks was Star Trek, and only in its birth and death, as TOS became famous in syndication and TNG and DS9 were entirely syndicated) find wrong with FreeSpace in general?
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TV (network and cable) are only interested in making a show out of something popular or at least somewhat well-known. Everyone knows what BSG is. If you're going to make a TV show out of FS, you might as well make a series based on Ultimate Bass Fishing 4. Have no idea what that is? My point. It would be a lot easier to make up your own storyline than base it off some obscure video game, that doesn't have enough canon background information in the first place to do much with.